WASHINGTON, D.C. — Green Party leaders said that provocation and aggressive posturing by the U.S. against Iran, Venezuela, and Russia should be understood as dangerous attempts to assert U.S. political and economic hegemony abroad while maintaining a domestic wartime economy.

Many Greens are participating in “Spring Rising,” March 18-21, four days of anti-war and pro-peace events in Washington, D.C., that will mark the twelve-year point since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq (http://SpringRising.org).

Greens said that a military confrontation between the U.S. and any one of these countries could trigger a wider, more destructive, and possibly global conflict. Party leaders noted that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are responsible for one third of the national debt, as well as 700,000 wounded U.S. veterans and mass civilian casualties in both countries.

Starlene Rankin, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States:

“The U.S. is becoming increasingly isolated at a time when we need intense international cooperation against the advance of climate change. Continuing military actions in the Middle East and the attempt to reignite the Cold War by provoking hostilities with Russia are all justifications for escalated U.S. military spending levels, dependence on fossil fuels, and the domestic surveillance dragnet. Oil companies and defense contractors are profiting immensely from endless war, the national security state, and the permanent wartime economy. The Green Party says that the dangerous direction these policies are taking us must be reversed. Instead of threats, Greens urge friendly relations with diplomatic solutions to international disagreements. Military spending should be drastically reduced — except for veterans’ services, which must be expanded. This will free up funding for human needs and for conversion to a clean-energy economy. We urgently need global unity among nations to steer the world away from fossil-fuel consumption.”

Darryl! L.C. Moch, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States:

“U.S. military actions prove that belligerence brings unpredictable and disastrous consequences. The war launched against Iraq in 2003 resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and 4,491 U.S. troops, destabilized the region, and enabled al-Qaeda and the Islamic State to gain footholds. The U.S. attack that removed Muammar Qaddafy left chaos and a power vacuum that strengthened extremist movements in Libya and surrounding nations. Civilian-killing drone assaults in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia have inflamed widespread rage against the U.S. Threats and sanctions against Iran and meddling in Syria — with confusion over whether the U.S. should aid the removal of President Assad or fight against rebels linked with the Islamic State — have deepened suspicions that the U.S. is in a global campaign against Islam. While the neocon doctrine of unilateral U.S. military aggression became bipartisan, the Green Party has opposed all such actions and continues to do so.”

Bahram Zandi, Ph.D., co-chair of the Green Party’s International Committee:

“While frothing Republican Senators try to interfere with President Obama’s insufficiently hawkish negotiations to shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program, both Republicans and Democrats are ignoring U.S. and Israeli intelligence estimates confirming that Iran has no nuclear weapons program. Current threats against Iran should remind us of the invasion of Iraq based on the Bush Administration’s false claims about WMDs and ties to al-Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks.”

“President Obama’s declaration that Venezuela is ‘an extraordinary threat to the national security’ of the U.S. deserves the same outrage as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress and the infamous letter to Iran from the 47 Republican Senators. In what way does Venezuela threaten the safety of Americans? The alleged internal human-rights abuses by the Maduro government don’t approach the level of repression by U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The declaration and sanctions are meant to punish Venezuela for disobeying the U.S. and for nationalizing its oil industry and coveted crude-oil reserves. As in the Middle East and western Asia, in which the U.S. seeks control over oil and shipping lanes, the U.S. is exercising its imperial muscle against Latin American nations that prefer to use their resources for their own people’s needs.”